Central Illinois Brewery for a variety of craft beer

A Lil Bit About Us

Lil Beaver Brewery began in 2017 in Bloomington, Illinois. The Taproom opened in early 2018. We proudly serve our beer to restaurants and bars across Illinois.

Chad Bevers

Chad Bevers is a Bloomington-Normal native and started brewing about 15 years ago after randomly striking up a conversation with the head brewer at local brewery.

A LIL HISTORY…

Years ago there was a young, eager lil beaver who enjoyed beer. However, he soon grew tired and bored with the commercial beer offerings in his neck of the woods and their false claims of ‘more flavor’ or ‘better taste’ that never quite met his expectations. After touring a local microbrewery and learning the process, the lil beaver decided it was time to brew his own beer. If you’re familiar with beavers, you know they are extremely dedicated to everything they do, so he quickly became obsessed with honing his skills as a homebrewer. It wasn’t long before he was crafting delicious beers of all different types and styles. When he approached his woodland creature friends about tasting his wonderful craft beers, he quickly realized several of them – and the community in general – were not all that familiar with craft beer. In order to help spread the knowledge he decided to get involved with the only local beer festival in his town, now called Bruegala, which also serves as a fundraiser. Once the event organizers found out he was a homebrewer, they asked him to handle all the beer-related responsibilities, FOR THE ENTIRE BEER FESTIVAL! The lil beaver gladly accepted this challenge and the event was a huge success. He was asked to again help out the following year, and in addition to handling the very important beer duties for the festival, he thought it would be fun to serve some of his own personal homebrews. So, that year, he set up a serving table and poured his hand crafted lil beaver beers. Just for fun he decided on a “special tapping” of his most coveted brew: a 13% ABV iimperial stout affectionately known as ‘Big Hairy Beaver.’ The crowds loved it, the keg was emptied in minutes, and their responses were overwhelmingly positive. Due to popular demand he decided to do it again the following year, but with more flavors and styles than before. Fans remembered these beaver beers from the year before, many by name, and a large line immediately formed for samples. As the countdown approached for this years’ special tapping of The Big Hairy Beaver, the long line that had formed erupted into chants of “Tap that Beaver! Tap that Beaver!!!” It was at that moment he knew a local favorite had been created.Fast forward to 2016, and not only has Lil Beaver helped grow the Bruegala event into the largest downstate beer festival in illinois, he’s also created quite the following of lil beaver lovers!

A lil bit about the brewer…

Hi, I’m Chad Bevers, aka the Lil Beaver. Over the years I’ve poured countless ounces of my delicious craft beer and served it to dedicated fans at the Bruegala Beerfest in Central IL. The one thing that remains constant year after year (in addition to the exponential growth of my fan base) is people wanting to know where they can buy it? When my woodland helpers and I tell them they can’t grab it off the shelves yet, they ask “Ok, well how soon until we can?” with a visible amount of hope in their eyes. Unfortunately the look of hope turns to one of sadness and despair when we say “Sorry, we dunno yet” and have to look away from the pain. It’s heartbreaking and something has to be done, which is why you are reading this right now…

A lil about the beers…

Beavers love lots of styles, but none more than the thick rich goodness of a high gravity imperial stout. So, you can expect to see a lot of those, but not exclusively, we want our fans to be able to drink more than one beer in a sitting!

The Lil Beaver enters competitions every now and then. Last year he was happy and surprised with the success of two of his stouts. One landed a Silver Medal in the largest homebrew competition in the world, The National Homebrew Competition, and the other got him and his wife an all expense paid trip to GABF, and this sweet portrait!

Good thing I didn’t win, or I couldn’t sell you the beer!

A lil known fact; Lil Beavers love coconut, and chocolate! And this Lil Beaver loves lots of other additives in his brews too. Mango habanero, watermelon wheat, who knew that beavers drank so healthy? Not your style, that’s ok, this Lil Beaver brews lots of normal beers too, from IPA’s to Barley Wine, Wild Sours to Stouts, and everything in between. But wait, beavers love wood right? Hehe, yes, they do, and this Lil Beaver likes to age some of his beer in wooden barrels!

In addition to sharing all the liquid creativity at the Bruegala Beerfest, the Lil Beaver also attends several beer festivals around the midwest to share some beers with friends, and has fans throughout the country! Here’s what a few Lil Beaver followers have said about the fermented magic we all call beer: